The Barça returns to the place of the disaster
Xavi’s men receive the needy Cádiz in search of forgetting their European elimination and continue in the fight for LaLiga
MADRID, 17 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona returns to the Camp Nou this Monday (9:00 p.m./Movistar LaLiga), the scene of the infamous night of its elimination from Europe last Thursday, seeking to rebel in LaLiga Santander, in a final match of the thirty-second matchday at the that receives a Cadiz in decline and in which he wants to hold on with all his might to his few league options.
More than 30,000 Germans dyed the stands of the Barça coliseum white in the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinal against Eintracht Frankfurt, an embarrassing spectacle that made Xavi Hernández’s men feel as if they were playing as visitors.
Whistle blows to the Catalan players and German chants preceded the unfortunate development of events on the pitch. Goals from Filip Kostic and Santos Borré made it a surprising 0-2 at half-time, and again the Serbian striker increased the tally after the break; Only goals from Busquets and Memphis prevented a greater humiliation against the tenth-ranked Bundesliga team (2-3).
Also out of the second continental competition, the team now needs to console itself with LaLiga, where the title options vanish day by day despite not failing. After seven consecutive victories, the last one against Levante saved by a late goal from Luuk de Jong (2-3), they have accumulated 60 points, 12 behind the leader Real Madrid but with one game in hand.
The accounts invite belief, but white reliability discourages. Even so, Xavi Hernández’s men have not given up on offering battle until the end in the remaining seven days of the championship -plus the postponed match against Rayo Vallecano-.
In that company, they will not have one of their main strongholds, the Canarian Pedro González ‘Pedri’, who suffered a fibrillar rupture in the biceps femoris in the duel against the Germans and who will likely miss the entire season. Thus, he will join the casualties of the injured Sergio Roberto, Samuel Umtiti, Gerard Piqué and Ansu Fati and the suspended Ronald Araujo.
The losses in defense will make Xavi bet on Eric Garcia and Clément Lenglet as a pair of central defenders, while up front the Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé, Ferran Torres and the Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seem to be the chosen ones.
Opposite, Cádiz goes to the appointment with many more emergencies, which urge him to add to try to get out of relegation. That is the objective set by the experienced Sergio González, who will return to the Camp Nou in search of a victory that will allow them to reach the permanence zone.
Right now, the Cadista team is second to last with 28 units, only one less than Mallorca, which fell in Elche on Saturday and marks salvation. In order to sleep peacefully, they will have to put behind them the two consecutive games without beating Valencia (0-0) and Real Betis (1-2), the latter especially painful after winning until the 78th minute.
The yellow team has not won any of its 13 visits to the Catalan venue -11 defeats and two draws-, a feat that it will seek this Monday without Rubén Alcaraz, who will have to complete a cycle of warnings, and without Iza Carcelén, Haroyan and Florin Andone, injured.
DATASHEET.
–POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS.
FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Alves, Lenglet, Eric Garcia, Alba; Busquets, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong; Dembele, Ferran and Aubameyang.
CADIZ: Ledesma; Akapo, Luis Hernandez, Chust, Espino; Alejo, San Emeterio, Jose Mari, Idrissi; Lucas Perez and Negredo.
–REFEREE: Jaime Latre (C.Aragonese).
–STADIO: Camp Nou.
–TIME: 9:00 p.m./Movistar LaLiga.